His father remarried and Kanechika had a poor relationship with his stepmother, which was one reason why he quit high school to enter sumo.
Upon promotion to the sekitori level in March 1992 he changed his shikona to Gassan, but soon reverted to Kanechika after a run of bad results.
He favoured a left-hand outside, right-hand inside grip on his opponents' mawashi or belt, and his favourite technique was shitatenage, or underarm throw.
By July 2004 Kanechika had decided to retire and he initially had no ambition to stay in sumo, intending to open a noodle shop.
After this controversial takeover the Sumo Association changed the rules so that former wrestlers who only have elder stock on loan, as Chikubayama did, cannot become stablemasters.
Miyagino was forced to resign as head coach by the Sumo Association in December 2010, after being caught on tape discussing match-fixing.